Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Quilty Circles

A while back Audrey of QuiltyFolk had an idea to sew a circle a day for the next 365 days. Her vision Quilty365 was to make a circle block each day according to your mood of the day. I signed up to sew along as well as lots and lots of blogging friends. Check out the first linkup on December 1, 2015. The more you make the better it gets. So much personality in those little circles. I love how everyone has put their unique ideas to their circles and shapes.

A mood of the day circle didn't inspire me like I thought it would. I made about six of those mood circles and they left me feeling like where am I going with this? What am I going to with this??? A bit like improv quilting...it's not for me. I have to have some kind of plan if I am going to spend my time on a project. I like a theme or to sew for a season. I began to toy with a Christmas print a day to end of up with a nice wall hanging. I like the idea of a scrappy circle Christmas print table topper. Maybe a nice amount of 25 prints, 5 by 5. Then I got sick and I got behind. I needed a stress free quiet project and it was too much to pull out the bin of Christmas fabrics. I still wanted to do some slow and peaceful stitching while I was recovering. Therefore, I decided I would do a Valentine's circle. I have a small plastic box of Valentine themed fabrics that is easily manageable.

I had a nice amount of KissKiss by Abi Hall for Moda charm squares left from last year's Valentine mini. They are still available at Missouri Star Quilt Company where I got mine. So this has been one of my recovery projects. I made this simple snowball table topper last year. It is finished now.

Here are my circles to date. I have pulled polka dots and hearts from my valentine box and from my stash in general. I like to make a project with lots of variety. Happy! Happy!

There is variety in this piece. Trucks and doggie bones from a red and white charm pack. I am not setting any boundaries. Just what makes me smile. Just what I like.

The charm squares are already cut at five inches. I traced around a random jar top to make a four inch circle. I think using pinking shears allows for some easier needle turn. I tuck under about 1/4 inch seam allowance and hand stitch all around. The idea is to eyeball the circle, nothing precise. Do not over-complicate the process. It doesn't take long while watching TV to make about two, three or four. I prepped quite a few at one time. I plan to do a few hearts and I can see some buttons and some lace. I put in a few dogs and cats because I "heart" them too and they make me happy. I also love prints with tiny birds. I will add a few of those. For me it is has become a joyful project during recovery from surgery.